Personal & Mission Statement
I was 18 years old when I boarded a flight to Seligenstadt, Germany, to visit the exchange student I had met in my Western Pennsylvania high school. Traumatized that my one year of elementary German was wholly insufficient, I vowed to become fluent in the language and return. This quest led me to become an avid scholar and advocate of all things related to the culture, history and international exchange between Austria, Germany, and the United States.
After earning my PhD in art history in 2015, I joined the Office of Merit Awards at American University in 2017 and as the Assistant Director, I support students who are applying for nationally competitive fellowships. I share my expertise in German and Austrian modernism as an adjunct professor in the evenings, as well as serving as chapter leadership, alumni panelist, and on selection committees on campus, abroad and nationally, respectively.
The recipient of national and international awards, my distinctions include a Fulbright study grant, an Austrian-American Educational Commission English teaching assistantship, a DAAD scholarship, the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, and an American University Phi Theta Kappa scholarship. Teaching English, as well as researching and writing her dissertation, “Egon Schiele’s Double Self-Portraits,” allowed me to spend four years in Vienna, Austria, engaging deeply with the rich cultural past and present, plus two summers in Berlin, Germany. I am a published author in exhibition catalogues, academic anthologies, and academic blogs.
I hope to bring my deep passion for education and cultural exchange to the GAHF and even more so, my understanding of advocacy work that I have established through advocating for the Fulbright program throughout the spring and summer of 2025. As the spouse of a nonprofit fundraiser, I have gleaned ideas through my conversations with him, particularly regarding small to medium sized donors.